Iron Man 3 Blu-ray Combo Pack Review

by Alexander Robinson

Movie Review

As more of a follow up to last years Marvel’s The Avengers rather then a follow up to Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3 follows Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) as he is struggling with, not only with the aftermath of his near death experience during the Battle of New York, but also the mysterious Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley). It was a massive financial success when it came out on May 3, 2013, making $1.2 billion dollars worldwide. Critics seemed to like it, but the fans were split on whether it was good or whether it sucked, and it all had to do with the very shocking, unexpected twist involving the Mandarin. As one of those said fans, I was taken back when the truth of the Mandarin was revealed and didn’t really know how to feel about the movie (given the fact that that twist was the only thing I didn’t like during my first viewing). It wasn’t until I saw it a second time that I really knew how to feel. Though not as good as Iron Man or The Avengers it’s better then Iron Man 2.(which I admittedly do like) I love what writer/director Shane Black brought to this movie to make it stand out from the past two Iron Man movies, Robert Downey Jr. is still great as genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist Tony Stark, and it’s got some very impressive action scenes. Even though there were a few problems here and there, I still enjoyed it. It ended up being one of my favorite movies of the summer and it was good enough for me to buy it on Blu-ray.

The video quality on this Blu-ray is amazing. The 1080p presentation is great, allowing you to see every little detail of all 43 armors (Iron Patriot included). The battle scars on the armors and all of the jet streams from each piece of the Mark 42 armor are visible and in great detail. It also allows you to see the difference in cinematography, when compared to the first two Iron Man movies. Whether it’s during the beautiful snow fall at night after the mansion attack.

The 7.1 DTS HD audio is excellent. All of the gunshots, repulser ray blasts, and explosions are sharp and you can hear every mechanism and gear in all 43 armors featured in the movie. The background sounds are also very clear and Brain Tyler’s score is out there and helps escalate the films key moments and the credit sequence.

Bonus Features

– The audio commentary from Shane Black and Drew Pearce is a great feature. Not only is it very informative as they talk about key scenes and decisions that were made during filming and the writing process, but it’s also very funny. The two will sometimes go off topic and talk about random moments that are pretty funny and there’s even a point where Shane Black’s cellphone rings. (twice) Even though it’s technically unprofessional for the phone to ring when recording an audio commentary, Black and Pearce turn it into a funny discussion that is completely unrelated to what’s happening in the movie. There are a lot of funny moments, but again it’s also very informative and interesting.

– Iron Man 3 Unmasked basically chronicles the production of this film featuring interviews from Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Guy Pearce, producer Kevin Feige, and writer/director Shane Black. Not much else to say except that the bulk of this featurette focuses on the all but one of the key action scenes in the movie.

– Deconstructing The Scene: Attack on Air Force One is a nine minute featurette that focuses on possibly the most intense and nerve racking scene in the entire movie. It’s actually pretty incredible to find out how much of the scene was shot using CGI and how much of it was actually practical. However it does raise the question “why this scene gets it’s own segment”. I personally don’t have a problem with that since I feel that the Air Force One attack is truly the most incredible and tense scene in the movie.

– The behind the scenes look at Thor: The Dark World is a very short preview into the next film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It simply features a few clips from the movie, some behind the scenes footage, and very short interviews with Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, producer Kevin Feige, and director Alan Taylor. However it doesn’t (or shouldn’t) fail to get you excited for the movie. (especially since I watched all three seasons of Game of Thrones over the summer, which Taylor has directed some episodes)

– The Deleted and Extended Scenes are sadly the least impressive feature in this Blu-ray. This section isn’t bad at all but it’s weak in the sense of how it was organized. Three of the deleted scenes are more like outtakes that belong in the Gag Reel feature rather than with the other deleted scenes. There is an extended version of Real Time with Bill Maher talking about the Iron Patriot that’s amusing, (mainly because I’m a fan of Bill Maher to begin with) and most of the other deleted scenes that aren’t outtakes are interesting but some of them will make you greatful that they were cut from the final product.

– The Gag Reel is very funny. It runs a minute longer then the gag reel presented in the Blu-ray for The Avengers and is about as funny as that gag reel was. Longer doesn’t really make it funnier, but it’s still good and you can tell that the cast was having a great time on set.

– I can’t comment on the Second Screen Experience because the portable Blu-ray player that I have can’t receive internet, and even if it could, my dorm room doesn’t have wireless. I plan to make a video exclusively for this feature once I get it to work, but until then I have nothing to say.

– The best bonus feature in this set is the Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter. Continuing the brilliant trend of Marvel making short films to accompany the films this short is the best one by far and…well maybe my review for the short film will explain why.

It’s a nice release. Even though the gag reel isn’t very well organized and the second screen feature can’t work without internet, it’s a good enough release that I would recommend it, especially if you are a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

You can also pick it up on 2D Blu-ray Combo Back that comes with a Digital Copy compatible with iTunes, or the Blu-ray 3D combo-pack that not only comes with a Digital Copy, but also a downloadable version of the Iron Man 3 soundtrack (not the films score, but the album Iron Man 3: Heroes Fall – Music Inspired by the Film)

Hi there. I'm Alexander Robinson. I run a YouTube channel where I review movies under the show name "The Real Mr. Robinson". I was born in San Antonio, TX but I was raised in Los Angeles. I recently graduated from UC Santa Cruz. I would definitely consider myself a nerd, especially when it comes to Godzilla, Marvel, anything Joss Whedon, Harry Potter and simply movies in general.